Senator Francis Tolentino is seeking another round of investigation over the alleged mass grave found along the septic tank inside the maximum security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Sen. Francis Tolentino inspects the facilities inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) together with Senators Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Robinhood “Robin” Padilla. (Photo by Ali Vicoy)

Tolentino, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said his committee would still wait for the complete report to be submitted later this week by forensic experts from the University of the Philippines (UP) before concluding on whether the supposed bone fragments discovered from one of the national penitentiary’s septic tank was from a human origin.

“We will wait for the UP forensics report… hindi pa naman tapos eh. Mayroon pang isang septic tank ng bubuksan sila. Halos dalawa pa nga eh (It is not finished yet. There is still another septic tank to be opened, there are of them), ” Tolentino said during a press conference right after the committee inquiry inside the NBP compound.

Tolentino noted that search and rescue dogs from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) K9 Force—trained to detect general scent alive and decaying human body—had detected signs of human remains in one of the septic tanks which had been constructed during the latter part American colonial period which is located near the bailiwick of the "Ilocano Group."

During the course of the initial inquiry by Tolentino’s panel, the medico-legal department of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) admitted that supposed bone fragment unearthed in one of the NBP’s septic tank was “not of human origin” following a process of forensic identification and actually came from a “chicken leg bone.”